Buford's Cavalry
by CAVALRYMAN1863
Summary: "No you won't they will attack you in the morning, and they will come booming, with Skirmisher's three deep, you will have to fight like the devil to hold your own until supports arrive. The enemy must know the importance of this position and will strain every nerve to secure it, and if we are able to hold it, we will do well." General John Buford to Colonel Thomas Devin
1. Prelude

It was late June of 1863, the men of the 1st Cavalry Division of the Union Cavalry Corps under Brigadier General John Buford, was riding through Pennsylvania, screening and counter-screening Jeb Stuart's Cavalry and the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E Lee. The Vanguard of the Union Army, the 1st and 11th Corps was not far behind Gen Buford's Cavalrymen, one trooper was Sergeant-Major Reynolds of the United States 2nd Cavalry, his company was attached to the 8th New York Regiment in the 1st Brigade under Colonel William Gamble, while the rest of the 2nd Cavalry and the 3rd Brigade of the Division made up of all the United State Army's Regular Cavalry under Brigadier General Wesley Merritt was in Maryland watching the fords across the Potomac and conducting patrols around Washington. General Lee's army was on the move north for the second time in the entire war, and General Joseph 'Fighting Joe' Hooker had been replaced by General George G Meade and the Union Army were hot on the heels of Lee's Army.

After Gen Stoneman's Raid into Virginia, which incorporated the battle of Tennessee Ridge, the Sergeant-Major had fought in the battles of Brandy Station, Aldie, and Upperville with the 1st Cavalry Division, all while in the pursuit of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Now the men were in Southern Pennsylvania riding North, the men had been riding all day and they were exhausted, and so were the horses. Since the battle of Chancellorsville, the Army of Northern Virginia had been on the move North, with the Army of the Potomac right behind. It was believed by all that they were heading for Harrisburg, the State Capital where much needed supplies could be procured by the Rebel Army. It was also believed that it was to draw the Army out of Virginia and defeat it on northern soil to get Britain and France on the side of the South. The young 19 year old Sergeant-Major looked up at the sky, and thought for a moment, that the war was far away and he was riding in the Pennsylvania countryside, he breathed in the air and admired the countryside. Then he remembered he was in a column of an entire Cavalry Division chasing 'Johnny Reb' he then jolted when he felt someone tap his shoulder.

"Sergeant-Major." He turned to his Company commander, who had replaced the last one since the death of Capt McCord after the Battle of Tennessee Ridge. He was an older man, probably in his mid forties with a long curly grey mustache, wearing a kepi with an officers shell jacket with golden shoulder boards with captain's bars. "Yes sir?" Replied the Sergeant-Major turned to his new commanding officer. "I want you to take a squad of men into that town, make sure you can establish some order and get the civilians off the streets." The Sergeant-Major saluted and the Captain returned it, the Sergeant-Major then pulled out his silver lined Colt 1860 Revolver he was given after 1st Bull Run for, 'Gallantry and Bravery under fire' and remembered his father's face that day, Matthew Brady took a picture of them that he kept close by as a memory of his late father. He was getting tear in his eye which he quickly wiped away. He took the second squad and they fell out of the ranks and galloped quickly into the small town. He could see the white board houses with the rail fences, a small white church and it's steeple as well as the seminary with the white cupola that appeared to have a commanding view of the town. The men got the civilians indoors and saw the battle flags of a Confederate Regiment, or perhaps it was a Brigade, some of the men, including him had reached for their carbines, but there was no shooting, no nothing.

 _Meanwhile_

The Division continued to gallop on until they reached the outskirts of a small Pennsylvania town, at the head of the column was General John Buford and his Staff, with two of his Brigade commanders, Colonel William Gamble, and Colonel Thomas Casimer Devin. They had winded their way through hills and mountain gaps, the same way the Confederates had come. From where they were they could see the small town and a seminary to the west of it. To the south, there were two hills, one full of trees with the summer color of green, the other flat with what appeared to be a cemetery. The General had halted the column from where he was, by a stone wall in that cemetery, and from the road below was Col Gamble's Brigade. He had ridden up to Gen Buford and his staff, they pulled out their field glasses and looked through them to see a large body of men marching into the town, at first it appeared to be a Confederate Raiding Party, but there was too many of them, there was power behind it, troops far back up the road toward the hills.

"That's Infantry alright, at least a full Brigade." Stated the Colonel, the General smoked his pipe and looked through his binoculars to see what Gamble was seeing. The general looked for any other movement, and saw one squad of his own men enter the town, he saw that they had their carbines handy, but there was no shooting, none whatsoever. "Any sign of Cavalry?" asked General Buford, Col Gamble looked left and right, but saw no men in gray on horseback, and shook his head and wheezed. "No sir, it's very strange, Infantry moving in enemy country blind, it's very strange sir." The General put the field glasses back in their brown leather case and held his pipe, still being smoked. "He's heading this way." His officers looked at him. "Lee's turned that's the main body." Col Gamble looked through his binoculars again. "You think so, I could have sworn he was heading for Harrisburg." The General nodded. "Well he was, but that's too many troops to be a raiding party" He took his pipe out of his mouth and spoke up again. "There's power behind it." The Colonel turned to face his superior. "Sir, if you want to fight here, this is lovely ground, it's the best damn ground I've seen all day." Buford nodded, it was indeed lovely ground. "It is that." He looked through his binoculars again and looked at the town. "We'll move both Brigades into town, that'll make the good citizens happy." he looked again at his Brigade commander. "Let's go down there and have a look." The Colonel nodded. "Sir." The staff rejoined at the front of the column and they moved into the small town, called Gettysburg.

General John Buford was a Kentucky born Union man, West Point class of 1848, he had fought in the Indian wars out west and was old style cavalry. He was careful and not a risk taker, warmonger, or glory hound. He merely wanted to focus on the task at hand, but he could sense what would happen here, Lee had turned and was heading right for the brunt of the Union Army.

He rode at the head of the column through the town, with the rest of his Division in tow, the streets were deserted, no people, no dogs, not even a mouse. White faces were in the windows, and the curtains of houses fluttered with the civilians peaking out as the men passed through Gettysburg. As the men passed through, the squad that entered the town fell in with their company and continued on through the town. There was nothing, no chickens, no cattle, not even a plow horse, the Rebels had foraged the land bare and didn't leave much to the civilian populace. As the trotted through on their horses, they could see the Rebel column moving away from them, towards the western blue sky and the hills. Just then a shot was fired and the General's staff officers ducked at the sound, but he ignored it, he kept thinking that the Rebs would be back in the morning, and how Lee's army would move towards the town and being to concentrate his forces. He turned too look back at the high ground to the south, that morning the Confederates would be there and General Meade and the army would not be there, nor would General Reynolds and the 1st Corps. His two deputy commanders rode up, Col Gamble gave the General a salute, and Col Devin gave a grin as they approached. "I wonder where their cavalry is?" The General sat up in the saddle. "The way Stuart rides, he's probably having dinner in Philadelphia." The General didn't listen to what Devin said, and even if he did, he wouldn't find it funny. "Get your patrols out, scout this bunch in front of us, but also scout up north, they'll be coming that way from Carlisle. I think Lee's turned the whole army, trying to get around us, between Meade and Washington. If I'm right there'll be a lot of troops up this road, and that northern road too so hop to it." Col Gamble saluted. "Sir." He then wheeled his horse and trotted down the line to assign men to scout west.

As the Colonel went, General Buford and his staff moved through the town with the rest of the Division and got on top of a small ridge, close to a small farm owned by some named Mcpherson. He passed one of the Regiment's under Gamble's command as they calmly waited for orders. The General stopped a few feet from a rail fence supported by rocks and dismounted his horse. He secured his saber and walked towards the fence, with Col Devin by his side. He had a boyish grin on him with sandy yellow hair and a thick mustache, who seemed to have more courage to go into battle, than the wisdom to find a way to win it. "You know what's gonna happen here in the morning?" Col Devin turned to look at his superior. "Sir?" The General looked out to the hills to the west. "The whole damn Reb army's gonna be here, they'll move through this town, occupy those hills, Lee will have the high ground and it'll be the **DEVIL** to pay. The High Ground! Meade will come in slowly, cautiously, new to command, they'll be on his back from Washington, the wires hot with messages, ' **ATTACK, ATTACK**!' So he will set up a ring around these hills..." He pointed to the high ground to the south. "...and when Lee's army is nice and entrenched behind fat rocks on the high ground, Meade will finally attack, if he can coordinate the army. Straight up the hillside, out in the open, in that gorgeous field of fire. We will charge valiantly, and be butchered valiantly. Then men will bump their chests and saw what a brave charge it was." The General took off his hat passed it through his dark brown hair. "Devin, I've lived a soldier's life, and I've never seen anything a brutally clear as this, it's as if I can see the blue troops in one long bloody moment. Going up the long slope to the stony top, already done, already a memory." He put his hat back on. "An odd, set, stony quality to it, It's as if tomorrow's already happening and there's nothing you can do about it. The way you sometimes wonder before considering attack, knowing it will fail. But you cannot stop it, you must even take part, help it fail." Col Devin looked at his Commanding officer. "Sir." The General looked at the ground, and the hills to the west. "No orders yet, tell your men to dismount and eat, and rest, get some rest." General Buford mounted his horse and rode off a little ways to inspect the ground. He wasn't sure if he should make a stand or not, but he knew John Reynolds, he was a good man, but would he get there in time. Would he understand the urgency, would he hurry, the General could not be sure. Then he wondered if he could hold against Lee's whole army, he had two good Brigades at his disposal, but what if they were sacrificed and Reynolds was late. There were only twenty-five hundred of them, all armed with Sharps Carbines and Colt Revolvers, and if dug could hold, but how long would they have to? He had time yet, he was Cavalry and had horses, and if necessary, could get out in a hurry.

 _Meanwhile_

The young Sergeant-Major was sitting in his saddle looking over his pistol, he made sure it was loaded and that it was clean, he then saw Col Gamble ride up to Capt Buckston and mumbled something to him. The Captain looked back and then back at the Colonel, he saluted his superior who saluted back. The Colonel then wheeled his horse and rode to the front of the Brigade as the Captain rode towards the Sergeant-Major. "What's going on sir?" The Captain took off his kepi and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "The Colonel wants me to send a few men as scouts to see how far the Confederate positions are from the town, and us." Were they going to stay and hold against Lee, if it was Lee. From what he saw from the town, he could say it was a Brigade, too big for a raiding party, too small to do much else against the Army of the Potomac, or a small Cavalry Division. "Who do I take sir?" asked the Sergeant-Major, the Captain placed his kepi back on his head. "Take five men of your choice, volunteers." The Sergeant-Major nodded and saluted his commanding officer, the Captain returned the saluted and rode down the line to find his second in command. The Sergeant-Major fell out of the line and began to call out names. "MULCAHY, QUINCANNON, O'RYAN, THOMAS, MILLER!" The five men turned their heads towards the voice who called them. "YOU FIVE JUST VOLUNTEERED FOR SCOUTING IN THE DIRECTION OF THE REB PICKETTS!" The men groaned, and fell out of the column. Mulcahy, O'Ryan and Quincannon were Line Sergeants and old friends of the Sergeant-Major's late father who had fallen at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

The five galloped north and then west in the direction where the Confederate Brigade had come from and then retreated from the sight of the Division, they moved across a small run that was easily fordable. They continued to trot on their horses and moved through the open fields and farmland right next to the Chambersburg Pike and cut across an open field. They continued through and got back on the road, they moved their horses at a walk, they soon came across a line of trees and stopped, they had gone about four miles from Gettysburg and had seen or heard nothing from the Confederates. The Sergeant-Major took out a pair of Binoculars he 'requisitioned' from the Company Quartermaster Sergeant.

He looked through the binoculars and saw something that was of interest to him, he saw a man with a rifle, it could have been a Confederate or it was a farmer that thought they were Confederates. He then saw the man raise his rifle, he quickly put the binoculars back in his saddle bag and, he had just closed the flap when the crack of a rifle was heard from where they were followed by a thump on the ground. Sgt O'Ryan had fallen off his horse, the others had begun to laugh, but Sgt-Major Nathan Carter Reynolds was in no mood for laughter. "Are you alright O'Ryan?" The Sergeant looked up at the Sergeant-Major and nodded. "Sorry Nathan, that gunshot scared me and well, made me fall off my horse." The men began to laugh again when another gunshot sounded through the air. The Sergeant-Major grabbed the binoculars out of his saddle bags again and saw other men with rifles, he counted how many there were and counted ten. "We'll make it look like we fell back, then see if we can identify who they are." O'Ryan got back on his horse and the men moved northeast, making it appear as if they were moving back, but they outflanked the picketts and proceeded further.

They continued on through fields, avoiding the main road to see an encampment of troops, the regiments belong to a Brigade under General Archer of Mississippi, who was in General Heth's Division, who belonged to General AP Hill's Corps. "Those men belong to Archer's Brigade, which means Heth's Division, which means Hill's Corps." The scouts then saw another Brigade brought up by Regiment, it was several Texas Regiments. "Texas Regiments, Hood?" asked Sgt Nulcahy in awe, the men nodded. "Without any doubt." replied Sgt Quincannon, the Sergeant-Major pulled off the binoculars and turned to face the others. "If that's Hood's Texans the rest of his Division behind that, that says James Longstreet is not far behind with his own Corps." The men just sat there before deciding they had enough information. "Let's get back, we need to report this."

The men were back in the town as soon as they left, they were as lucky as they could be since no enemy picketts spotted them riding back. The men still sat in the saddle, waiting for orders, they saw Col Gamble near Capt Buckston and they were talking, the Sergeant-Major told the men to get back in the column with the other men as he went to make the report. The Captain and Colonel saw him approach on his dark brown horse, he saluted the two officers. "Well Sergeant-Major, did you find out anything?" The Colonel also seemed to be interested. "We sited enemy picketts four miles from our position sir,then we saw elements of Mississippi Regiments, those mean Hill's Corps, then we noticed elements of Longstreet's Corps behind them." Colonel Gamble looked at the Sergeant-Major with a vigorous interest. "Are you sure Sergeant?" The young Sergeant-Major nodded. "Positive sir, they look to me there gonna concentrate here in the morning, seeing how many men we saw and all." The Colonel nodded and then turned to the Captain. "Captain, you better come with me." The Captain nodded and turned to the Sergeant-Major. "Sergeant, tell Lt Carr he's in command until I return." The two officers galloped off towards the front of the column. The Sergeant-Major didn't like Lt Carr, he was a Marylander who didn't like the President, who's family had ties with the south, and only wore the uniform to find glory. Even though he didn't want to wish death upon anyone, he hoped that a bullet would find Lt Carr.

 _A few Minutes Later_

General Buford went over the ground, and saw that Devin's Brigade must have headed north to cover the approach from Carlisle, he saw the Colonel ride up the road with the same boyish grin. "My Brigade is dismounted sir, any orders." The Colonel dismounted and waited for a reply, the General had been thinking long and hard about whether to make a stand or to get the hell out. He then remembered the Horse Artillery under Lt John Calef, he had twenty-five hundred men, and a battery of 3-inch ordnance rifles at his disposal. "Is Calef's battery up yet?" The Colonel turned to look at his commanding officer. "Sir, his six guns are deploying forward now, but they will take a while to get set up since they're at the rear of the column with the ordnance wagons." The General nodded. "Have the bugler sound officer's call." He then turned to his staff officers. "HOW FAR BACK IS REYNOLDS WITH THE MAIN FORCE?" One his officers looked back and responded. "About ten miles sir, not much more." Just then hoof beats from two horses could be heard on the road. Through the air, the bugler played the tune 'Officers Call' as two riders pulled in through an opening in the rail fence next to the road, it was Col Gamble and a Captain. "Sir!" The Colonel dismounted his horse and a trooper quickly went to hold it so it wouldn't run off. "Your right, my scouts report the Reb army's coming this way and that's for sure, they're all concentrating in this direction." The staff officer's gathered around after 'Officers Call' was sounded, the General looked back at the field in front of him. "We're gonna hold here in the morning, long enough for Reynolds and the Infantry to arrive. We hang onto the high ground we have a good chance to win this fight that's coming. Understood?" The officers nodded. "Yes sir." They shouted in unison. "Post the cannon along this road, the Chambersburg Pike, the Rebs will hit us at dawn but I think we can hold them, at least two hours." Colonel Devin looked up at his superior "Hell General, we can hold them all the damn live long day." The other officers agreed with Col Devin, but the General shook his head. "No you won't, you'll have to fight like the devil to hold your own." The Brigade commander looked straight at the General "But sir, at Thoroughfare Gap you held against Longstreet, you held for six hours." Col Gamble then turned to Col Devin to say something. "And reinforcements never came, we held for nothing." The officers held their heads, they remembered how the General sent request after request for reinforcements, but never came. The General turned to look at the long ridge on the farmland outside of the town. "The Rebs will hit us just about first light, Keep a Clear Eye! I want the picketts to give us a good warning." He turned back to his officers. "Alright gentlemen, let's get posted."

The officers mounted their horses again and saw as Col Gamble's Brigade moved down the road and moved off the road to take cover and dig in. Regimental commanders such as Lieutenant-Colonels and Majors move their Regiments into line in the fields and behind the rail fence supported by stone and Junior officers such as Captains and Lieutenants moved their companies, one next to another. Three men to dismount, every forth man to fall back holding the horses, the General and his Staff sat on their horses as they watched the Brigade dismount and dig in. The men galloping into the field and dismounting, setting up and sending out videttes and more scouts to see who would be coming down the road. General Buford knew his men, he knew they would do their job, good boys he thought, he and his staff then turned their horses east and headed back towards the Seminary.

 _Meanwhile_

The Sergeant-Major waited with the others, and saw movement in front of them, the Brigade was moving at the gallop, they then saw the Captain ride down to them almost at lightening speed. Lt Carr was at the front of the company, freshly polished boots and kepi with gold braid on the crown of the kepi, he saluted the Captain who returned it, then spoke to the Sergeant-Major. "Sergeant-Major, get the men moving, we're dismounting and digging in on and around the Chambersburg Pike, we'll be holding in the morning." The Sergeant-Major smiled, they would hold their position, although outnumbered, they would be given the chance to hold. "Yes sir."He turned to the other men behind him, veterans of battle, from First Bull Run to Chancellorsville, Regular soldiers of the professional army. "B TROOP, FORWARD HO!" The men began to gallop down the road with Carbines drawn, taking position with the 8th New York Cavalry behind the rail fence, dismounting and taking positions behind the fence, one platoon heading out further, beyond the fence to act as forward skirmishers along with others in the the 8th New York and in Col Gamble's Brigade. When Nathan gave his horse to Trooper Miller, he saw that General Buford and his Staff were watching them prepare, he personally knew that the General was a good man, and would do his duty to the best of his ability, like his men. He saw Lt Carr walk up to him and he stood at attention. "Sergeant-Major, the Captain needs you to take this report to Gen Buford personally." He took the paper, saluted his superior and went off to get his horse. He looked at the paper quickly and saw that it was a report of what they had as arms and munitions they were armed with and how much more ammunition was needed. But it was for the entire 8th New York, not just the Company. He got his horse and galloped up towards the Seminary when he was stopped by a sentry. "HALT, advance and be recognized." The Sergeant-Major moved up slowly. "Sergeant-Major Reynolds, Second Cavalry, B Company, attached to the 8th New York." The sentry looked him over from the distance they were at. "Give the countersign." The Sergeant-Major shouted the reply the trooper asked for "Antietam." The sentry allowed the Sergeant-Major to approach, he then got off his horse and a corporal held it, he walked up to the officers when one approached him. "What's your name trooper?" The Sergeant-Major quickly brought up his right hand and saluted the officer. "Sergeant-Major Nathan Reynolds sir, carrying papers for Gen Buford." The Officer nodded and led him to the General who was writing something on a piece of paper. The General didn't have his coat with his shoulder boards on, nor his black curved brimmed hat smoking his pipe. The General looked up at the officer approaching him and the Sergeant-Major following him.

General Buford sipped a cup of Coffee as he wrote a courier message to Gen Reynolds when he was approached by Col Devin in the dark. The Colonel took off his kepi and spoke to the General. "The last of the scouts have come in, confirming everything, it's Hill to the west and the majority think it's Ewell to the North sir." The General nodded. "Very well Devin, you better get back to your men and get some rest." As the Colonel saluted, and walked off, he saw a young Lieutenant walk up with a Sergeant-Major "What is it Lieutenant?" The officer stood at attention and saluted the General. "Sir, this is Sgt-Major Reynolds of the Second Cavalry, his company is attached with a Regiment in Col Gamble's Brigade. He brought a list of ordnance that the 8th New York, including his company would need." The General looked over at the Sergeant-Major, and he merely stood at attention, the General looked him over, he appeared no older than nineteen, possibly twenty, but he had dust from riding on his uniform, and a look on his face that he could tell made him an experienced cavalryman "Your a regular son?" Nathan looked at the General and nodded. "Yes sir, when I heard about the firing on Fort Sumter, I enlisted in the Regulars, to fight with experienced troops of the plains." The General nodded, he then looked at the Lieutenant. "Your dismissed Lieutenant." He asked the Sergeant-Major to sit down, and he sat down right in front of the General. "Have you eaten yet soldier?" Nathan shook his head, the General turned to one of his Sergeant's. "Sergeant, get this man a plate of dried beef and some coffee." The Line Sergeant saluted and went to get the food." "Thank you General." The General shot a quick smile before returning to the paper he was writing on. "Well Sergeant, us professional soldiers have to stay together, I was a Captain in the Second before the war actually." The two professional soldiers talked as they both ate and drank. But the Sergeant-Major saw that the General was writing a courier message to send to General Reynolds.

 _General Reynolds,_

 _My troops are deployed on good ground west of Gettysburg on the Chambersburg Pike.  
I've sent reconnaissance parties out in every direction from which the enemy might attack,  
I'm satisfied that AP Hill's Corps, is massed just west of here back at Cashtown, enemy picketts  
four miles of my position, rumor says Ewell is coming over the mountains from Carlisle. If true  
two Confederate Corps will converge on us in the morning, one from the west and one from the  
north, do you want me to hold this position if attacked, confirmation requested._

 _J. Buford_

The Sergeant-Major spoke up when he saw what the General was writing on the paper. "Sir, do you think General Reynolds will get here tomorrow morning in time?" The General looked at him and sighed. "General Reynolds is a good man, but I don't know, hopefully the message will go up to General Meade, then up to Washington." The General stopped speaking for a moment. "But the telegraph lines might not be repaired yet, and those Politicians in Washington must be screaming their heads off, damned Halleck." The Sergeant-Major nodded, he didn't approve of General Halleck, he had a personal reason for his hatred for the General. If Halleck had brought the Pontoons on scheduled to Fredericksburg, then his father might have not been killed there. He then noticed he was done eating and his cup of coffee was empty, and realized he had better get back to his Company. "If we stack them up along that narrow it'll take them a while to get on track, to get into position, what do you think?" The Sergeant-Major turned to respond. "It's a sound move sir, we've got decent ground, we can fire our cannons down on them and almost triple their rate of fire with our Carbines." The General nodded, he was not a hard man, the Sergeant was right, he was a man who simply wanted to get the job done and nothing more. He then pulled out his watch and noted the time, Lt Carr would have his hide if he were any later than he already is. "Thank you for everything sir, but I best be getting back now." The General shock hands with him and shot a quick smile. "Be careful tomorrow, but don't get to confident." The Sergeant-Major cracked a smile and saluted the General before mounting his horse and going back to McPherson's Ridge. The General had made headquarters at the Seminary, and he would have a nice view from the Cupola for the fight tomorrow morning.

He galloped back to the ridge and gave his horse to Miller again, Lt Carr was the first to approach him, and he didn't look happy. He approached the senior Non-Commissioned Officer with a scowl on his face. "SERGEANT-MAJOR WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" He was about to explain when he was cut off again by the Lieutenant. "You've been assigned pickett duty tonight, you will be with the forward skirmishers if a battle does come tomorrow morning. You'll go down the road and find Trooper Ward just off the pike." Nathan Reynolds knew better to argue with Lt Carr, he merely saluted the Lieutenant and carried on. He again got his horse from Miller and road a few miles and found the post where Ward was camped. "Who goes there?" The Sergeant-Major went through the brush and waved at Ward who put down his gun. "Good to see you Sergeant." Nathan tied his horse to the tree where Ward had tied his and unsaddled him. "Sarge, will there be a fight tomorrow?" The Sergeant-Major put down his saddle and grabbed his bedroll and was about to roll it out he gave Ward an answer. "Probably, and we'll have to hold for a while, but we'll do it." He laid his head on the ground and looked up for a moment, again he thought the war was far away, but not that far, was the entire Army of Northern Virginia. Twenty-five hundred men against thousands of the enemy, but they would stand their ground, or he at least he would. "Now ain't we glad we joined the Cavalry." The Sergeant-Major brought up his head. "What do you mean?" Ward looked over at him and gave a bit of a chuckling grin. "We can get the hell out of here if Johnny Reb gets real close." That placed a smile on the face of Nathan Reynolds, and the two started to laugh, but it would be the last bit of laughing they did in a long while.


	2. Fight like the Devil

As Trooper Ward slept, Sgt-Major Nathan Reynolds sat with his Carbine on a log, he cleaned the breech of his Carbine to make sure it would be ready for today's fight. He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost Seven, it had rained a bit that morning but the sky was clearing up and the sun was coming out. But as he was finishing up, he heard a faint noise, that he could only identify as footsteps, footsteps of troops marching, he looked straight over at Ward and shook him awake. Ward was about to shout his head off when he was shook awake by the Sergeant-Major told him to keep quiet and listen, the tow quickly broke their small camp, saddled their horses. But before they began to head back, the Sergeant-Major loaded his Carbine. Ward brought up his head and rubbed his eyes to see what the Sergeant-Major was doing "What are you doing?" The Sergeant-Major looked at him. "This." He loaded the gun, brought it to full cock and pulled the trigger, firing the bullet into the air. "I'm alerting the other picketts, we've all got to get moving back to hold the town." The two saddled their horses and proceeded back to Gettysburg as quickly as possible. They galloped down the Chambersburg Pike and found a small detachment of Dismounted Videttes from the 8th Illinois Cavalry at Herr's Tavern. They quickly rode to them to alert their commanding officer that Johnny Reb was coming down the road in force. They found a Sergeant and went to ask him who was in charge. "Say Sergeant, who's in charge here?" The Sergeant turned to look at the two. "Lt Jones, why?" The group of men here didn't even number half a platoon, thought Nathan to himself. "Let him know he's got Rebs marching this way, and you boys might have first crack at them." He dismounted and got his Carbine, Ward was confused, they were supposed to report back as soon as possible. "What are you waiting for Ward, get your Carbine and dismount, we're starting this battle from right here." Ward dismounted with his Carbine and knelt down by a rail fence with the Illinois Troopers in front of the white painted Tavern, then a Lieutenant walked up to the Sergeant and Sergeant-Major. "What the devil is going on Sergeant Shafer?!" The Sergeant saluted his superior, to which he returned it. "Sir, this Sergeant-Major said he heard the Rebs marching this way, and was riding back to Gettysburg to warn the rest of the Division." The Lieutenant turned to the Sergeant-Major. "Is this true Sergeant-Major?" The Sergeant-Major nodded, and they both looked down the road, and sure enough, half a mile away was the Rebel column. One of the men brought up their carbine to fire, but the Lieutenant stopped them. "Give me the honor of opening the Ball Trooper." He turned to Sgt Shafer. "Sergeant, let me have your Carbine." Sgt Shafer handed his Carbine over to the Lieutenant, there was an officer on a white horse in front of the column of gray troops. He knelt by the fence and aimed down the sight of the weapon and squeezed the trigger. The officer was still on his horse, but they were out of range, explaining why the officer wasn't knocked off his horse. "Looks like he's out of range Lieutenant." The Lieutenant nodded, then turned to the Sergeant-Major and Trooper Ward. "You two better get back to your Regiment, we'll be right behind after we give these Rebs a volley." The two Regular Troopers did not have to be told twice, they immediately went to their horses and rode back to McPherson's Ridge.

The men galloped another mile and a half back to their positions at McPherson's Ridge and soon were by the rail fence where their horses were being held, they gave their horses to one of the troopers and ran over to Capt Buckston and Lt Carr. "You rode in here like a bat out of hell Sergeant-Major, what's going on?" Nathan caught his breath from riding so hard back to their defense positions, he looked to see a battery of six 3-pounder ordnance guns were in place, with their limbers only a few feet behind hitched to their battery horses. "Sir, we heard the Confederates marching down the road from the west, so we alerted the other pickett posts by firing a shot in the air, we rode down to the Herr Tavern finding a small contingent of men from the 8th Illinois, then came here immediately after." The Lieutenant and Captain looked at each other. "Alright Sergeant-Major, you'll be in command of two squads of advanced skirmishers a few yards up on the slope of the ridge. Your responsible for delaying the Confederates as long as you can before pulling back here to the main line of defense." The Sergeant-Major saluted his commanding officer, and then ran towards his horse. He mounted his horse and rode down to another rail fence where the two squads were, he handed off his horse and ran down and knelt with the others and waited. But they didn't have to wait that long, for a Confederate Regiment was marching down the road right towards them.

 _Meanwhile_

Up in the Cupola of the Seminary, General Buford and two other officers could see a Regiment of Infantry advancing with an officer on a white horse through his binoculars, Lt Calef's Battery was just getting the range, One of the shells went off in front of an officer on the horse and knocked him off, killing him in the process. The Regiment then pulled off the road and got onto the sloping ground at the bottom of the ridge, cannon shells exploding right in the middle of their ranks as they moved at the double quick to form a line of battle. Then came the fire from the men behind the rail fence and they began to open fire on them, the Rebs quickly formed into a line, but were still getting whittled down by relentless fire. The dismounted cavalrymen continued to fire, Troopers with Carbines and Officers with Pistols, he saw his forward skirmishers fall back to the main line and reinforce his main position. The Rebels fired their rifled muskets at the dismounted trooper, but as the lines on men continued to fall, they began to waver under the strain of the casualties. He watched as the Rebels attacked his position and grinned, the Rebs had no guns up yet and bringing a full Brigade up. "He's got a Brigade in position and that's all, he hitting me with one Brigade and I'm dug in, lovely, lovely." General Buford then looked off to the Southeast for any sign of John Reynolds and his Corps, but saw nothing. "Gentlemen, let's go down there." One of the officers opened a wooden hatch that revealed the stairs, they walked down to the bottom where the rest of the staff was waiting. He mounted his horse and started towards the defense with his staff and the Division color bearer carrying the Red and White 1st Cavalry Division Guidon right behind.

The dismounted cavalrymen continued to fire on the Confederate Infantry, the cannons fired right into their lines and the casualties of the Graybacks were mounting, gun smoke gathering around the Union cannons and Carbines creating a mist in front of the defenders, the Confederates were ramming bullets down the barrels of their muskets when they began to break and run from the field. From his position on the line next to Calef's Battery, Col Gamble saw the Rebels begin to fall back. "They're on the run." Just then, he saw General Buford and his staff riding down the pike and onto the field right towards him. Col Gamble saluted the General as he galloped up towards him. "Quite a scrap, huh General." The General looked up at his Brigade Commander "How are your loses?" The General took a moment to look at the men and how they remained there waiting, some others were just getting back from their pickett positions, dismounting and running towards the main line to take positions with the other men in the Brigade. "Not bad at all sir, we've really got a twist on them, they're arrogant people you know, they came right at us." The General looked through his binoculars to look out for more of the Rebs heading down the road to deploy in the field in front of them and their forward skirmishers. "Listen we took some prisoners, they're from Heth's of Hill's Corps, that's what I've got in front of me." The General looked back at the Colonel and then back at the road as more Regiments arrived against his men. "It's a new Division, I figure eight thousand men more or less, all within sound of this, just back up that road between here and Cashtown, just a little way's up the road." The General looked through his binoculars to see more Confederates moving down the road at the double quick. "It'll take them a while to get on line." Col Gamble then looked over at the General and nodded. "Yes sir, but, Hill's whole Corps is in front of me with twenty-five thousand, Longstreet behind that, Ewell over there to the North." Gen Buford continued to look through his binoculars as Gamble continued on. "I know Colonel, I know." He looked back at his Brigade Commander and also noticed men rushing around on horseback, probably couriers, and other men holding the horses of the men that were dismounted and firing. "The thing is this sir, when John Reynolds get's here he won't have the whole army with him, only part of it. The point is, as I see it, the Rebs will be here with everything they got, I just thought I'd mention it." The two looked down at the position of the men, another Confederate Regiment was on the run. "Now, what do you want me to do here sir." The General turned to look at the Colonel. "Well, Heth'll be back in a bit, if he's got any brain at all and he's not stupid, he's got to know by now he's got at least a Brigade in front of him. I don't think he'll wait to get his whole Division in line, that'll take half the morning." The Colonel looked over at the field where another Confederate Regiment was moving into line and back at the General "Sir, he don't need his whole Division." Gen Buford looked at Gamble once again. "That's right, does Devin report any activity on his front over to the right?" The Colonel shook his head. "No sir, not a lick." The General gave a small nod. "Right, I'l have Devin leave a cover in the north, pull the rest of his boys out and move in alongside you, lengthening your line, when Heth get's back he'll find two Brigades instead of one, that ought to hold them until Reynolds get's here." Col Gamble gave a nod. Col Gamble: "Right sir." He looked up at the sky. "Hmm, damn sure glad the rain's gone, don't want anything to slow up Reynolds." Gen Buford looked back at his Brigade commander. "Take care of yourself Colonel." Col Gamble smiled and saluted his commanding officer. "Don't worry about me sir, I'm the soul of caution." The General returned the salute and rode off down the line, he quickly told a young Lieutenant to send a second message to General Reynolds.

He knew that if Heth committed his whole force, they would roll over them, his entire Division would be lost as well as the high ground, and the only person to blame, would be him. But he had sounded the bugle, and could not call a retreat, he knew the way to Washington would be open if they ran. He stuck around the line and sent another courier to Devin to tell him to immediately come towards Gamble's position and dig in, but in the General's mind he thought _'If this was a mistake, God help us'_.

 _Meanwhile_

The men forward of the rail fence commanded by Sgt-Major Reynolds were holding fast, the two squads he was given gave him a total of sixteen men in a skirmish line five feet in between each trooper and kneeling. The men brought up their Carbines and aimed at the line of rebels marching their way, the men were slightly intimidated by the number of Rebs approaching them now then when they came the first time, but now they had reformed and more were coming in force. "Ready!" Shouted Reynolds, some of the troopers were shaking at the numbers of Confederate Infantry that were marching in line of battle towards them. "Aim!" The Rebel Skirmisher's were three deep and approaching them quickly, the cavalry skirmishers were already down to ten rounds per man, but they were Regulars, they wouldn't break and run. " **FIRE!** " A volley of fire from the .54 Caliber Sharps Carbines hit the middle of the line of an advancing Rebel Regiment and a good section of their front rank, killing a color bearer and two others of the color guard, and several other line infantrymen. The Sergeant-Major was about to give the order to reload and give another volley, when he saw a battery of Rebel Cannon in place and about to fire, they were exposed where they were, and the main line was only a few yards to the rear. "ALRIGHT MEN, FALL BACK!" The men stood up straight and ran to the rear, gripping the scabbards of their sabers so they wouldn't trip over them while running. Some of the men quickly reloaded their breech loading carbines while running, two men knelt down and got a shot off before being directly hit by an artillery shell.

Nathan looked at their mangled bodies and was in shock, he turned and gave another volley, and realized his Carbine was not loaded, the other men were already ahead of him, some turned and fired before they were shot. He ran towards the fence, he could recognize Sgt Mulcahy waving toward him, he got to the fence and tossed over his Carbine to Mulcahy before jumping over the fence, be then, he felt something hit him just above his knee, like a bullet. He thought he was hit, right above his left knee. He felt no pain though, he didn't know whether that would be good or bad, he hit the dirt laid there for a minute or two, but the world seemed to slow down around him as he thought. No pain, but he felt something hit him, he started to check his left left leg and felt no bullet wound, no feeling of blood on his hand, nothing. He looked down, and saw a section of his scabbard was bent in. He pulled it up and saw a small round ding in it. "NATHAN! Are You Alright!" He showed his scabbard to Mulcahy who then looked him right in the eyes. "Well I'll be damned." The Sergeant-Major whispered loudly, The two gave a chuckle before Mulcahy gave Reynolds his Carbine, they both got behind the wooden fence and opened fire again on the Rebels.

The Confederates began to advance slowly, but the men kept up their fire, while the Rebels had muzzle-loaders, the Federals had Breech loaders, that almost tripled the amount of fire of the Rebs. But then the artillery rained in behind them at Lt Calef's guns, the blast of which knocked down a entire cannon crew but luckily didn't kill them. The Sergeant-Major fired another shot and reached back to his Cartridge box to pull out another round when he looked back and saw Col Gamble himself with a pistol firing on the Rebs from his horse. The Sergeant-Major got out a paper cartridge and pulled the forward the trigger guard to open the breech of the Carbine, he placed the cartridge in the breech and closed it, tearing off the end of the cartridge exposing the powder inside. He pulled back the hammer to half cock and took off an old percussion cap, he got a new cap from a small pouch on his belt and placed it on the cone. He brought the hammer to full cock and aimed at a Confederate Infantryman reloading his musket and fired, dropping the Rebel like a fly. He reached back for another cartridge but felt nothing in his cartridge box, it was empty, he had run out of ammunition. He quickly ran back over to his mount to get some more from his saddle bags when he heard an artillery shell fly overhead. He braced himself for the shock of the cannon blast which came, but it didn't do much damage, flew over a Gun and knocked off the right wheel of a Limber. But when he grabbed more cartridges and stuffed them into his cartridge box he looked at the Limber again and saw that it had caught fire, he knew that it was loaded to the brim with cannon shells and powder, and the artillery gun in front of him was manned by six men in the ten man crew of the 3-pounder, the blast from the limber would kill the men manning the gun. Something had come over him, he didn't know what he was doing as he was acting on impulse, but before heading back to his position, he dropped his Carbine and ran over to the gun crew waving his arms. "GET AWAY FROM THAT GUN!" The men looked over at him, confused, maybe they couldn't hear him, or maybe they did but didn't understand why he wanted them to move away. "GET AWAY FROM THAT GUN!" He pointed at the limber which was half engulfed in flames, the crew saw and immediately ran a few feet and hit the dirt.

He looked back at the limber and saw that someone was on it, trying to get the battery horses to move the limber away, he immediately ran over to the limber and pushed the artilleryman off of it. He drew his saber and cut the reins before hitting the horses on their rear ends, making them bolt away towards the ordnance wagon. He then ran over to the artilleryman and helped him up, but he soon saw that almost the whole limber was aflame, he pushed down the artilleryman and he hugged the ground himself. They both heard the limber explode and stayed down as the wooden debris and shrapnel fragments fell around them, they both soon were helped up by other artillerymen, a Artillery Line Sergeant carried the Sergeant-Major's Carbine over to him and handed it to him, and took his right hand and shook it. "Thanks friend, you saved our lives, if it weren't for you, we would have been gotten for sure." The Sergeant-Major tipped his Black Cavalry hat and immediately ran back up to the line. As he moved up, he heard someone shouting over behind him, and saw a whole Brigade take up position over near their position and to the right. "FORM BATTLE LINES, GIVE'EM HELL!" He saw the men run forward towards the fences and then saw a high ranking officer get off his own horse and draw his saber, and he saw that it was Colonel Devin and his Brigade. He soon got back to his Company on the line and resumed firing, he then saw Capt Buckston run over to him wit his Colt Revolver in his right hand. "Sergeant-Major, keep up the..." He was cut off by a bullet hitting him in the throat, and was bleeding as he hit the ground. "Captain!" He lunged over to help the Captain and saw where he was bleeding. "STRETCHER BEARER!" He looked around, no one heard him. " **STRETCHER BEARER!** " A medical orderly ran over to him and looked at the Captain, he was dead.

Many thoughts went through his mind, especially what had happened the last time one of his officer's were killed, he thought of Capt McCord and how he had survived while several others didn't. He thought about his friends he had made before Gen Stoneman's raid into Virginia, his father who dies at Fredericksburg the year prior, he thought about how many people he cared for that this cruel war would take. "Sergeant-Major, take your position and fire your weapon." He had not noticed Lt Carr standing over him with a pistol in his left hand, he was angry and sweaty from the gunsmoke and heat. "I said, take your place on the firing line, THAT'S AN ORDER!" The Sergeant-Major didn't listen, he stayed where he was, he didn't notice how Lt Carr aimed his pistol at the back of his head before an explosion behind them.

Lt Carr was now rolling around on the ground, Shrapnel in his right leg, it had kept Nathan Reynolds from being killed, but also, had placed him in command. Another medical orderly had gotten a stretcher and with another man's help, carried the Lieutenant off the field. He then heard something that put fear into every soldier wearing the army blue, the Rebel yell. He saw the Rebels's coming closer and closer and the men were beginning to get nervous, the Sergeant-Major saw one man was about to break and run but he quickly ran towards him and caught him before he slipped away. The scared trooper had dropped his Carbine and Nathan picked it up. He opened the breech, pulled out a cartridge and helped the trooper load it, he then turned him around and got him back on the firing line, he picked up his own Carbine and waited for the Rebs to get so close they wouldn't miss. "Ready." The men made sure the hammer's of their Carbines were at full cock. "Aim." Some held the Carbine by the steel barrel, others by the wooden stock at the front, and others rested it on the fence. " **FIRE!** " The men all fired at once and the Rebs fell like dominoes, but they were still coming, so the men reloaded their weapons and fired again, and again, until the Rebs started to slowly fall back to reform once again.

 _Meanwhile_

"That flank, Hold it!" The General saw Devin's Brigade move in and take a position on the flank next to Gamble's Brigade. "STAND FAST, KEEP UP YOUR FIRE, POUR IT INTO THEM BOYS, POUR IT INTO THEM!" His men soon knelt behind the fence and opened fire on the advancing Rebels. General Buford moved down the line with his staff behind him, he then saw a Captain ride up towards him and saluted. "Gamble's down sir, Colonel Gamble, but he's not hurt bad sir!" The General quickly trotted over to where Col Gamble was, he and two aides were dusting him off. "I'm alright, I'm alright." he looked over at the General. "Close, that's all." The General shook his head with a grin as Col Gamble mounted his horse again, he looked through his binoculars again. He didn't notice and officer, a young First Lieutenant, and an older possibly in his early 40's Line Sergeant ride up to him and his staff, until he spoke. "Sir!" The General put down his binoculars and looked at the Lieutenant who gave him a salute, he immediately returned it. "Col Devin's compliments, there was a problem on the right, they came up close, we put in the reserve, but we didn't put it all in sir, he wishes to know if you have any further orders." The General took a short pause that seemed longer than it was, and thought about Devin's situation, they had not broken through, but they came close to breaking. "Tell Devin all reserve forward, NOW!" The Lieutenant saluted the General and took off with the Sergeant right behind him, leaving General Buford and his staff to watch the line. He looked through his binoculars yet again and could see Devin waving his saber, having the men keep up their fire on the Rebels lines of Infantry.

Artillery is traded between both North and South as Lt Calef's Battery continues to fire on the Rebel Infantry and the Confederate Batteries fire on the dismounted Cavalrymen and their horse artillery. The General see's one Company from the 3rd West Virginia Cavalry galloping back towards the main defense line behind the fence, while Confederate Artillery rained around them. Once behind the slight safety of the fence, the men dismounted, filling any gaps in the line and started to blaze away with their Carbines. One shell knocked of a horse holder from his own mount and caused his mount to run off a few feet, while the other mounts merely stood there.

The General had decided to go back to the Seminary to check for Reynolds, but when he looked to the south, there was nothing, sign of Gen Reynolds. He looked again to the West, the men were battered and bruised, but not beaten, but ammunition was beginning to run low within the ranks, little to nothing in the ordnance wagons. Yet he still saw the guidons of different companies of different regiments continue to wave, then he heard something from one of the officers that he thought he would never hear. "Sir, It's General Reynolds!" He quickly turned his head and looked through his binoculars to see General Reynolds and his staff cutting across fields and farms, moving toward the Seminary. Gen Buford smiled and took out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. "Thank god." Soon enough, Gen Reynolds was right below the Cupola, one man was holding the Colors of the 1st Corps and the rest of the men were his staff officers. "What goes John?" General Reynolds looked up at General Buford and General Buford looked down at General Reynolds. "There's a Devil to Pay." General Reynolds cupped his left hand around his mouth and shouted up to Gen Buford. "Can you hold?" The General looked to the west again to see his two Cavalry Brigades fighting Confederate Infantry, battered and bruised but still fighting on, he looked down at Reynolds again. "I reckon I can." One of the General's Staff officer opened the hatch in the floor and started to walk down to General Reynolds, as General Reynolds gave orders to his staff officers. General Reynolds wheeled his horse to face the officers on his staff. "Captain, you will ride as fast as you can to General Meade, tell him the enemy is advancing in strong force and I'm afraid they will make it to the heights beyond the town before we will. We'll fight them here, inch by inch through the town if necessary." The Captain saluted and rode off south towards Taneytown, Maryland. The General then turned to a Lieutenant and gave him a set of orders. "Lieutenant, go into town, tell the people to stay in off of the streets, especially children, there's liable to be a a fair sight in this feud here today." Like the Captain before him the Lieutenant saluted and rode towards the town. General Reynolds then turned to an officer with glasses filthy as a dirt road. "Joe, how can you see anything with those things on?" The officer quickly took off his glasses and began to clean them with his blouse. General Reynolds walked his horse forward as General Buford came outside, Buford saluted Reynolds and Reynolds returned the salute before dismounting, the two shaking hands. "General, damn glad to see you." Reynolds grinned. "The First Corps' coming up, the Eleventh is right behind." He pointed at the Emmitsburg Road and Gen Buford could see the column of Infantrymen marching down the road, the Black Hat boys, the Iron Brigade. A crack Brigade of Westerners from Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan under Gen Meredith. General Reynolds then looked at General Buford again and smiled "Good job John." The Cavalry officer gave a small smile "Thank you, I don't think they knew until now what they were up against, now that your here they still won't know." The Corps Commander gave of a slightly cocky grin. "Then they'll be coming back, very good, Heth will come in here thinking he up against two tired Cavalry Brigades, instead he'll be hitting two Corps of Fresh Union Infantry." General Buford smirked. "Yes sir, poor Harry." "You can pull your boys out as soon as we set up, put them out on my flanks, good cavalry on both flanks."Gen Buford nodded. "Yes sir. Well John, most of my life I've been leery of the appearance of high command, John I sure am glad to see you." Gen Buford went over to his staff to get his horse, and Gen Reynolds looked at his staff. "Gentlemen, place the troops!" The two rode down to the west where Gen Buford's Cavalry was engaged in the fighting, even if just barley through the smoke and gunfire, the two old soldiers talked on their way down, with the sound of Infantry marching behind them.

"Now John, Heth probably has ten thousand men coming down that road, have you sited?" Gen Buford nodded. "Yes sir, and there'll be a lot more behind him." Gen Reynolds looked back at the men marching forward and then back to the field/ "We we have about twenty thousand we can put in the field, we're in very good shape I think." General Buford agreed. "For a while sir." "I'm sending messages to all my commanders to come to this place with all possible speed." Gen Reynolds looked at the ground for a moment or two. "Lovely ground." Gen Buford looked at it himself, he had made the right decision. "I thought so sir." Gen Reynolds face Buford. "Now let's go surprise Harry Heth." The two General and their Staffs galloped down there, with the first columns of Infantry Regiments marching down the road, soon Reynolds took off to hurry the Infantry along to relieve Buford. The General soon went back over to the field to see how the men were holding up close once more, and to pull the men out as soon as the Infantry had set up.

 _Later_

At this point, he was leading the men and keeping them firing, Sgt-Major Nathan Reynolds had his saber drawn and was firing with his pistol, like many an officer on the line. His Carbine on his sling and the ammunition on his person given to a trooper who needed it, he walked back and fourth down the line of his Company, which was not in the best shape. Two officers killed, as well as twenty-nine enlisted men, twenty-four Privates, three Corporals, a line Sergeant, and a bugler were killed in the fight, and twelve other men wounded leaving him with fifty-seven men under him, a non-commissioned officer. But the men did as they were told by him and kept up there fire, but ammunition was running low, the men were down to fifteen rounds a man, even from what they got off the dead and wounded, it still wouldn't be enough. The ordnance wagons were already running dangerously low, soon the men would have to fight with their sabers and rocks, but the men noticed something, the men to their left were not Cavalry, but Infantry, then the Sergeant-Major looked behind and saw more men moving at the double=quick were Infantry. The men didn't show it, but they were relieved and ecstatic, they had held on for General John Reynolds and the Infantry to arrive, the men continued fighting on, with even more confidence than they had before, they weren't going to leave yet. Then the Sergeant-Major saw an officer, a Captain ride over to Gen Buford who was dismounted with his Division Color bearer and staff around him looking through his binoculars. He could just barely hear what they were saying, but it was clear enough. The Captain handed one of the General's staff officers a note, who read it back to the General. "Sir, Compliments of Colonel Devin, Rebels are coming down the road from the north, he asks for instructions sir." The men the General had left in the north had seen the Rebel advance by Ewell's Corps, one Regiment would not hold for long. "That'll be Ewell's Corps, trying to flank us, we've got to met him, force him to go on line." He turned to the mounted Captain. "Seek Col Devin, tell him to get up that way as quick as he can, we'll get Gamble's boys back in the saddle and be there shortly." The Captain saluted and rode off, as more Infantry moced down the line, now they were going to replace the Sergeant-Major's position as an officer walked up to him "Who's in charge of these men?" The Sergeant-Major saluted. "I am, our officers were..." The Infantry Captain cut him off. "I don't want your life's story, just get these men out of here and make room for us, we're taking over!" After hearing that, the Sergeant-Major got what was left of the men, off of the line to make room for the Infantry. He told the men to get their mounts and wait for him, he returned his saber to his scabbard and his pistol to his holster and quickly jogged over to Gen Buford. One of the General's officer's noticed him tried to stop him, but he went straight to Gen Buford. "General Buford sir." He saluted his Division commander. "Request permission to take B Company of the 2nd United States Cavalry, to the north, in support of Col Devin." He looked straight at the General. "Aren't you the Sergeant-Major I spoke with last night?" Nathan Reynolds quietly nodded. "What about your officers trooper?"

The Sergeant-Major managed to keep his bearing when he mentioned his deceased officer, and a wounded one. "One dead, the other badly injured, and we're just barely above half strength, but our spirit's are high." The General nodded and looked directly at the battle weary Sergeant-Major. "Permission granted." The Sergeant-Major saluted the General who returned it and quickly ran over to his own Company, where Sgt Festus Mulcahy held his horse. "Where to Nathan?" The Sergeant-Major turned to him. "North, to the Carlisle Turnpike, we're going to help Devin's boys." Mulcahy and others within earshot heard what he had said and were in surprise. "What, but why?!" The Sergeant-Major merely looked at him and gave him a simple response. "We're in the army Festus, and this is what we get paid thirteen dollars a month for." He looked back at the other men and gave the order to march. "FORWARD, AT THE GALLOP, HO!" The men galloped in a ragged column of twos with their Company Guidon fluttering in the wind as they moved east back into the town before heading north. The men galloped hard and were soon on the line with Col Devin's men, who were also running low on ammunition, the men quickly dismounted and took their position holding back the Rebs, they were in a skirmish line with other New York Regiments who were surprised to see a Company of Regulars fight with them, but were glad nonetheless. The forward Brigade videttes had fallen back behind the skirmish line and left the rest up to the men of the 2nd Brigade, even though ammunition was low, the men managed to hold on for more than an hour. Soon enough, the men of the Eleventh Corps under General Carl Schurz took over, allowing the cavalrymen to mount up and ride to the rear towards the hill to the south.

The men soon found themselves with Col Gamble's Brigade and the rest of the Division when they reached the hill with the cemetery, they finally felt as if they could breath after holding the enemy all morning. Their job was done, for now, but soon, by late afternoon, the men heard that the army was in retreat through the town, how the Eleventh Corps broke and caved in on the flank of the First Corps. It was Chancellorsville all over again with the German soldiers of the Eleventh Corps running again from the fight. Now they heard that the First Corps was now on the run, and that General Reynolds was killed and General Doubleday had replaced him in command of the Corps. The men were both mounted and dismounted, scattered fighting had happened with both Brigades as they moved to the rear and flanks, battered, bruised, and exhausted the men began to rest, now a Staff Officer from Doubleday rode up and could be seen by the men of the Regular Cavalry, he rode up to Gen Buford at the base of the hill with the cemetery. "General Buford sir, General Doubleday has asked me to tell you to do anything you can to stop the pursuit of the Rebels against the First Corps, so the men can deploy on the ridge next to this hill without fear of being attacked." The General looked tired, stressed, and above all else, quite a bit angry, he pointed to the men of Hill's Corps on the Ridge with the Seminary. "WHAT IN HELL AND DAMNATION DOES HE THINK I CAN DO AGAINST THOSE LONG LINES OF THE ENEMY!?" He rode off toward Gamble's position and some of the men remounted, including the Regulars, and followed him to the high ground to the west. The men were just beyond rifle range of the Confederates, when the General gave the order that no one thought he would give that day. It was to draw sabers, the men did as they were told, but to charge into that line of men would have been suicide, but the order to charge didn't come. "What's the General waiting for, are we gonna charge or not?!" Asked Quincannon, the Sergeant-Major looked down the line, he knew what the General was doing, it looked like they were going to charge, but they weren't. "It's a faint." His friends, Sergeants Mulcahy, O'Ryan, and Quincannon looked at him is confusion. "He's tricking the Rebs into thinking we're gonna charge, but we're not, we're stalling for time. It's a faint." The men were amazed at the strategy choice of the General, and also relieved. The action had the effect the General had hoped for, it had stopped the Rebs, forcing them to brace themselves for a mounted attack to their front which never came. They waited there until the men of the First Corps where on Cemetery Ridge, soon, Gen Buford gave the order to counter march back towards back towards Cemetery Hill, showing enough might and menace to make the Ridge beyond the town secure.

 _ **General Hancook of the Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac, later called that the most daring sights he had seen in the entire war.**_


	3. We held the High Ground

It was late in the evening, the men were resting in a Peach Orchard to the south near two round rocky hills, on the far left of the Union line, some of the men rested their heads on their saddles and tried to sleep. Other's had gotten some of the peaches from the peach trees and bit into the juicy fruit of the summer season. The men of B Troop of the United States Second Cavalry were in their own circle away from the other Regiments, some of the men were already asleep once the sun set and the moon came out. But four Irish Non-commissioned officers were still awake, going over who was dead, wounded, or missing, and counting up the remaining men. "What about Martin, how is he?" He looked at Sgt O'Ryan, for he was with Martin in his section. "He's fine, almost caught a bullet, but it just grazed him on the left side of his head, we tied it up with a bandage." The Sergeant-Major nodded, then Sgt Mulcahy spoke up. "Nathan, can I say something, off the record." The Sergeant-Major looked at his friend. "You did all a man could do and more today, and I know your father would be proud to hear of you commanding a body of men today." The Sergeant-Major nodded, he hadn't thought of his father all day and he looked up at the sky. It was almost as if he see his father's face, hear his voice, speaking to him from heaven.

He merely sat there and thought of the days before the passing of his late father, he remembered how they talked about their shared experiences on the battlefield at home, in some cases they were only a few miles apart from each other. He remembered the family photo that they had taken with his mother and younger brother of two years. He wondered what his own family was up to as he sat on this very field, where two armies dueled for dominance of the field, and were surely to continue in the morning. He laid his head down in the grass and waited for his exhaustion to take over and wait until tomorrow, until he was called by someone with a thick Irish Accent. "Sgt-Major Nathan Reynolds, I'm looking for Sgt-Major Nathan Reynolds!" The Sergeant-Major quickly got up and ran over to the sound of the voice calling him. "I'm Sgt-Major Nathan Reynolds." The man in question appeared to be a Captain, with a full mustache and short chin beard. "I'm Captain Myles Keogh, aide to General Buford, he would like to see you immediately." The Sergeant-Major nodded and turned back over to the others. "MULCAHY!" The older Line Sergeant sat up and looked at the Sergeant-Major. "Your in charge until I return." The Sergeant just nodded and went back to laying down in the ground.

The two walked over to the horses and saddled up, and rode to the northeast where they could both see the Division Colors and a small clump of men. It was General Buford and his staff, Captain Keogh led him up to the General and saluted him. "Sir, Sgt-Major Reynolds of the 2nd Cavalry." The Sergeant-Major saluted the General, he returned the salute of both the Captain and Sergeant-Major, the Captain when back within the ranks and left the two at the front of the staff. "You know Sergeant-Major, I saw and heard about what you did today, and I'm quite impressed." The Sergeant-Major was grateful for the praise, but didn't let it overcome him. "I want you to ride with us to Headquarters, General Hancock would probably like to see you." The Sergeant-Major nodded, they started to trot to the north, towards the hill with the cemetery again, he was behind General Buford and next to the Color Bearer, holding the white and red division guidon. He himself was once a color bearer, holding a similar flag, though it was for one Company and not a whole Division. "Is something bothering you friend?" The Sergeant-Major quickly looked over to the color bearer, he had a thick yet small mustache, and a floppy forage cap on his head. The top three buttons of his shell jacket were unbuttoned and he appeared weary. "No, nothing's bothering me, it's just, I was looking at the flag is all, it reminded me of another time." The Color Bearer looked confused, until Nathan Reynolds explained. "I used to be a Color Bearer myself, early in the war, Bull Run and half of the Peninsula Campaign." The soldier seemed to understand now, and made a gesture that the Sergeant-Major would be grateful for. "Want to hold it?" He immediately looked at the trooper, and gave a nod, he subtly handed the flagpole over to the Sergeant-Major who held it with pride. He remembered the 1st Battle of Bull Run when he was with Custer, then the Peninsula with McCord, before he got his Sergeant-Major stripes.

His mind went blank with the thought of those times, they were wonderful and frightful at the same time, he remembered the bullets whizzing by his head. It was a prize when you knocked down a soldier with a flag in his hands, but he was lucky, and at that moment, there was no gunfire, no cannon roars, no of battle, just the sound of hooves against the earth. He then heard someone gallop next to him and it was Capt Keogh, he looked at him and gave a firm yet warm smile. "You've been the talk of the entire staff you know." The Sergeant-Major looked at him with a bit of slight confusion. "Saving an Artillery crew, commanding a Company on your own, and volunteering them to assist Devin, you've made these officers hear everything they've ever had to." "I... I just did what I thought was the right I didn't even think twice, I just acted." The Captain nodded. "You did do what was right." He then went back to his spot in the ranks, and without another word, they carried on.

General Buford just needed orders for him and his battered Division, the Sergeant-Major could sense his tiredness and stress, it must have been tough all day for him, especially after the death of General Reynolds. They soon came upon a small white farmhouse, and could see Regiments of Infantry and Batteries of Artillery arrived throughout the night. The General dismounted and asked the Sergeant-Major to follow him, he gave the Division Guidon back to the color bearer and followed the General, as if he was his pet aide. The two soon came across a Major who appeared to know his business and asked him who was in charge. "Who's in command, and where do I find him?" The Major turned to the pair and saluted. "Good evening sir, the officer in command is General Howard and he can be found..." He was interrupted by another Major. "Oh NO EDGAR!" He turned to the General. "The officer in command is General Hancock sir, and he..." The first Major butt in now and the two began to argue about who was the senior officer on the field, soon enough, other officers joined in the argument. "Seem's we won't be getting any answers out of them." The General looked at the Sergeant-Major and nodded in agreement. "And if Howard is in command sir, god help us." Neither appeared to have any admiration for the man, his Corps had run away again, just as they did at Chancellorsville, and Oliver Howard always found someone to blame other than himself. The two then noticed a figure, unfamiliar to the Sergeant-Major, but familiar to Buford was General John Gibbon, an old friend from out west. "Evening John." The two officers shook hands. "Surprised you could find headquarters, what with all that confusion." Gen Buford nodded, before remembering something he heard from before the war. "Old Indian saying, follow the cigar smoke and find the fat man there." General Gibbon chuckled as they walked up the stone path towards the small white farmhouse, he then noticed the Sergeant-Major. "Is this one of your new aides John?" Gen Buford looked over at the Sergeant-Major. "More like a one man army." He turned to the Sergeant-Major. "Sgt-Major Reynolds, meet General John Gibbon." The two shook hands and soon continued to walk down the path. "Who's in command here anyway." Gibbon shrugged "You have your choice, General Howard or General Hancock, if you want to speak with Win, he's inside." General Winfield Scott Hancock was the commander of the Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac, he had been sent personally by Meade to overlook the situation after Reynolds was killed, but it was a verbal order, and General Howard could only be relieved by a written order from Meade. "I need to get my Brigades refitted, all I want is orders." The two walked into the small house, passing two sentries who presented arms to the General officers. The young Non-Commissioned Officer had only seen a glimpse of headquarters life since the Second Cavalry acted as part of the Provost Guard during the Peninsula, with McClellan commanding at the time. Both General Buford and Sgt-Major Reynolds could spot General Hancock straight away smoking a cigar, and he turned to them and walked towards the General. "How are you John?" The two shook hands. "Alright, Brigades are pretty shot up though, they need to get refitted." General Hancock nodded. "Right, I'll see too it, we heard about what you did this morning, that was one hell of a piece of soldiering." As they were talking, Nathan looked around, he had never seen so many officers, some sitting, some standing, one on the bed in the room. Most of them smoking cigars, Infantry Officers, Artillery Officers, Ordnance, and Engineers were here. "Thank you sir." General Hancock took another puff from his cigar. "I heard you were with John Reynolds when he was killed, I'm sending the body up to his folks in Lancaster, they might appreciate a note from you." The General nodded. "I'll send it." The General then seemed to notice the young Cavalry NCO and asked about him to Gen Buford. "Say John, who's the young Sergeant?" At the word Sergeant, Nathan quickly turned to face the General. "Well General, this is Sergeant-Major Reynolds of the 2nd Cavalry, his company was with one of Gamble's Regiment's today, and he and some of the men with him fought like the devil to hold their ground." The Sergeant-Major merely stood at attention, until Gen Hancock put out his hand. "A pleasure Sergeant-Major." The Sergeant-Major and Major General shook hands and the General continued to speak. "So, your the one that I heard of that saved an artillery crew and lead an entire Company after your officers were killed." "It was more as, what was left of a Company after one officer killed, the other seriously wounded." The General nodded with an amused grin before turning back to General Buford. "Where do you want me in the morning?" Now, General Hancock got more serious. "I want you to hold your position on the extreme left, get some rest if you can, we may need you in the morning, JEB Stuart is still prowling out there someplace." The General nodded. "Yes sir." The General and Sergeant-Major saluted General Hancock, and walked out of the small house.

The two slowly walked down the stone path gripping their saber scabbards and passing the sentries, they walked over to a fence and leaned on them, looking at the ground. They could see men digging in and placing artillery batteries across the ground, neither spoke, and they were both exhausted, if they wanted to they could have fallen asleep right there. "Well General Reynolds, we held the high ground." The Sergeant-Major looked over at the General and then spoke up. "It's a mixed up business." The General looked at him. "This whole thing." The General looked up with a bit of intrigue. "How so?" Nathan looked at his commanding officer, and gave him his response. "Well, for one thing we're all american on both sides, now we're fighting each other because the south couldn't get John C Breckenridge into the President's office." The General sighed, he agreed with what Nathan had just said. "Let me tell you something Sergeant-Major." The Sergeant-Major now looked over at the General. "I asked you to accompany me here because, I needed someone to talk to after this whole thing." The Sergeant-Major was slightly puzzled. "What about your aides sir, the two Lieutenants on your staff, your Sergeant?" The General shook his head. "The Lieutenants are dead, and Sgt Coarse is badly wounded, but I asked for you for a particular reason." The Sergeant-Major stayed silent. "You a Regular. Now let me ask you a question, how long did you think this war would last at the beginning?" He knew from when he arrived in Washington in 1861 that the conflict wouldn't be a three month skirmish, he knew how it would be, intimate and ugly. "I don't know, but certainly not three months, before 1st Bull Run, I heard men talking about how we would be in Richmond before the month was out, I knew that was a load of hogwash. A half-trained, civilian mob of Militia and Ninety day enlistees couldn't whip anyone, not even a plow horse." "It's been two years now." The General sighed, and so did the Sergeant-Major. "And there's no end in sight."

Without another word, the two walked back over to their mounts, and rode back to their position by the Peach Orchard to the south. The next morning, they would be pulled out of the line to refit and guard the supply trains for the army. If it wasn't for General Buford and his Cavalry, the Battle of Gettysburg would have ended in disaster for the Union, it may had not even happened. To this, we owe thanks to General John Buford and his 1st Cavalry Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac.


End file.
